Annie fronted British symphonic rock band Renaissance for nine albums starting in 1971, but only in the late ’80s became a lyricist. She’s now released eight studio albums and two new Renaissance albums.

We discuss “Blessing in Disguise,” the title track from her 1994 album; “Grandine il Vento,” the title track from Renaissance’s 2013 album, and “Precious One” from Annie’s The Dawn of Ananda (2000). End song: “Symphony of Light,” also from Grandine il Vento.
Opening music: “Introlise” from Annie in Wonderland (1977) and Renaissance’s “Northern Lights” from A Song for All Seasons (1978). More at anniehaslam.com.

Continuing with Dave Pizarro on articles by Stanley Milgram, Philip Zimbardo, and John Doris about situationism, which entails that people’s level of morality will vary by situation, as opposed to virtue ethics, which posits that how people will act in a novel situation will be determined by the quality of their character.

Do difficult situations make good people act badly? Are there really “good” and “bad” people, or are we all about the same, but put in different situations? With guest Dave Pizarro from Very Bad Wizards.

John gained semi-fame playing guitar with pop-punk Chicago-area legends Screeching Weasel starting in 1986 but became a band-leader/songwriter with eclectic-acoustic Even in Blackouts in 2002, featuring singer Liz Eldredge. He’s also an author, playwright, and juggler.

We discuss “Rapture in the Third Person” and “Motives Misunderstood in the Key of C” from EIB’s Thresholds from the Basement (2009) and “1,000 Stories” from The Fall of the House of Even (2006). End song: The new, otherwise unreleased EIB track “Reason” (rough mix). Intro music: “Talk to Me Summer” by Screeching Weasel from Anthem for a New Tomorrow (1993). Learn more at johnjugheadpierson.com.

Start with the South Parkesque absurdist beginning of this series, if that’s the kind of thing that you’re into. Satire and Irony as Political Tools I’ve already written on humor for this series; shouldn’t this topic have already been covered? Well, no. As Wikipedia tells us (citing Robert Corum writing about French satire), satire need not be actually funny. Animal Continue Reading …

Are insults largely interchangeable, or do they have fixed descriptive content, in addition to their normative (insulting) content? Can the two elements of meaning be isolated? Thoughts on innovations in language.

What makes us human? Dick’s story about androids emphasized their lack of empathy, while the movie adaptations portrayed the “replicants” as plenty capable of emotion, but unjustly treated as servants or targets.

What makes us human? Dick’s story about androids emphasized their lack of empathy, while the movie adaptations portrayed the “replicants” as plenty capable of emotion, but unjustly treated as servants or targets.

End song: “Wounds and Nihilism (Quantum Androids),” written for this episode by Tyler Hislop (feat. Mark Lint). Listen to Tyler on Nakedly Examined Music #24.

Richard F. Walker has released 20+ albums, usually with his London space-rock band Amp. We discuss “Just Get It (Why Don’t You)” and “Les Ombres Sur la Lune” from Q Factors (A Mixtape) (2017) and “Tomorrow” from Stenorette (1988), and listen to “Levil Devil” from US (2005). Opening music is from Transmissions (part 1) (2005), and closing music is from “Mort Irritées” from AMP Studio’s Uncertainty Principles (2016). More at ampbase.net.

On the foundational, 1776 text of modern economics. How does the division of labor and our instinct to exchange lead to the growth of wealth? Is the economy sufficiently machine-like to enable us to manipulate its output, or at least to tell us how not to screw it up?

On the foundational, 1776 text of modern economics. How does the division of labor and our instinct to exchange lead to the growth of wealth? Is the economy sufficiently machine-like to enable us to manipulate its output, or at least to tell us how not to screw it up?

End song: “With My Looks and Your Brains” by The Mr. T Experience. Hear about the singer/songwriter on Nakedly Examined Music #56.

We go further into “Philosophy of Native Science” by Gregory Cajete and “What Coyote and Thales Can Teach Us: An Outline of American Indian Epistemology” by Brian Yazzie Burkhart, plus process philosophy, propositional vs. procedural knowledge, and what we owe to nature. With guest Jim Marunich.

Frank has led punk band The Mr. T Experience in the Bay Area since 1985, and has also released three successful music-related books for teens since 2006.

We discuss “Down With the Universe” from King Dork Approximately (2016), “Big, Strange, Beautiful Hammer” from Yesterday Rules (2004), and “More Than Toast” from Our Bodies Our Selves (1993). We conclude by listening to “Even Hitler Had a Girlfriend,” a 2014 single by Dr. Frank & the Bye-Bye Blackbirds. Opening/closing music: “Danny Partridge” from Everybody’s Entitled to Their Own Opinion (1986). Learn more at frankportman.com.

About The Partially Examined Life

The Partially Examined Life is a philosophy podcast by some guys who were at one point set on doing philosophy for a living but then thought better of it. Each episode, we pick a text and chat about it with some balance between insight and flippancy. You don’t have to know any philosophy, or even to have read the text we’re talking about to (mostly) follow and (hopefully) enjoy the discussion

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